The long-hunted exile
has now been elevated to the throne: his principal enemies are in their
graves, and David is exalted over the kingdom of Israel. There is not a
little in the opening chapters of 2 Samuel which we have passed over, as
being outside the scope of this series; yet they record several details that
present some lovely traits in the character of our hero. As we have
previously pointed out, the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan was
received by David with no carnal joy, but instead with magnanimous grief (2
Sam. 1: 17). He had never regarded the apostate king and his favorite son as
standing between him and the kingdom, and his first feeling on their fall
was not—as it had been in a less generous heart—a flush of gladness at
the thought of the empty throne, but instead a sharp pang of pain that the
anointed of God had been grievously dishonored and degraded by the enemies
of Israel (2 Sam. 1:20).

Even when he began to
contemplate his new prospects, there was no hurried taking of matters into
his own hands, but instead, a calm and reverent inquiring of the Lord (2
Sam. 2:1). He would do nothing in this crisis of his fortunes, when all
which had been so long a hope seemed to be nearing its realization, until
his Shepherd should lead him. Curbing his naturally impetuous disposition,
refusing to take swift action and subdue his remaining opponents, holding in
check the impatient ambitions of his own loyal followers, he waited to hear
what God had to say. Few men have exercised such admirable
self-restraint as David did under the circumstances which confronted him
when his long-persecuting oppressor was no longer there to contest the field
with him. Blessedly did he fulfill the vow of earlier years: "my
Strength! upon Thee will I wait" (Ps. 59:9).

Even before the death
of Saul, the strength of David’s forces had been rapidly increased by a
constant stream of fugitives from the confusion and misery into which the
kingdom had fallen. Even Benjamin, Saul’s own tribe, sent him some of its
famous archers—a sure token of the king’s waning fortunes. The hardy men
of Manasseh and Gad, "whose faces were like the faces of lions, and
were as swift as roes upon the mountains" (1 Chron. 12:8) sought his
standard; while from his own tribe recruits "day by day came to David
to help him, until it was a great host like the host of God" (1 Chron.
12:22). With such forces, it is evident that he could easily and quickly
have subdued any scattered troops of the former dynasty. But he made no such
attempt, and took no measures whatever to advance any claims to the crown.
He preferred God to work out things for him, instead of by him!

When he was settled at
Hebron he followed the same trustful and patient policy, not merely for a
few days or weeks, but for a period of upwards of seven years. The language
of the history seems to denote a disbanding of his army, or at least to
their settling down to domestic life in the villages around Hebron, without
any thought of winning the kingdom by force of arms. His elevation to the
partial monarchy which he at first possessed was not from his own
initiative, but was from the spontaneous act of "the men of Judah"
who came to him and anointed him "king over the house of Judah" (1
Sam. 2:4). Then followed a feeble hut lingering opposition to David, headed
by Saul’s cousin Abner, rallying around the late king’s incompetent son
Ishbosheth, whose name significantly means man of shame.

The brief narrative
which we have of the seven years spent by the still youthful David at
Hebron, presents him in a very lovable light. The same gracious temper which
had marked his first acts after Saul’s death is strikingly brought out in
2 Samuel 2:2-4. "He seems to have left the conducting of the
(defensive) war altogether to Joab, as though he shrank from striking any
personal blow for his own advancement. When he did interfere, it was on the
side of peace, to curb and chastise ferocious vengeance and dastardly
assassination. The incidents recorded all go to make up a picture of tare
generosity, of patiently waiting for God to fulfill His purposes, of longing
that the miserable strife between the tribes of God’s inheritance should
end. He sends grateful messages to Jabesh-Gilead; he will not begin the
conflict with the insurgents. The only actual fight recorded is provoked by
Abner, and managed with unwonted mildness by Joab.

"The generosity of
his nature shines out again in his indignation at Joab’s murder of Abner,
though he was too meek to avenge it. There is no more beautiful picture in
his life than that of his following the bier where lay the bloody corpse of
the man who had been his enemy ever since he had known him, and sealing the
reconciliation which Death even makes in noble souls, by the pathetic dirge
he chanted over Abner’s grave (3:31). We have a glimpse of his people’s
unbounded confidence in him, given incidentally when we are told that his
sorrow pleased them, ‘as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people’
(3:36). We have a glimpse of the feebleness of his new monarchy as against
the fierce soldier who had done so much to make it, in his acknowledgment
that he was yet weak (3:39)" (Alexander Maclaren).

The final incident of
David’s reign over Judah in Hebron was his execution of summary justice
upon the murderers of the poor puppet-king Ishbosheth (4:12), upon whose
death the whole resistance to David’s power collapsed. Immediately after,
the elders of all the tribes came up to Hebron, with the tender of the crown
(5:1-3). They offered it upon the triple grounds of kingship, of his
military service in Saul’s reign, and of the divine promise of the throne.
A solemn pact was made, and David was "anointed" in Hebron
"king over Israel": a king not only by divine right, but also a
constitutional monarch, chosen by popular election, and limited in his
powers. The evangelical significance of this event we considered in
the preceding chapter; other points of interest connected therewith are now
to engage our attention.

This crowning of David
king over all Israel was, first, the fulfillment of one of the great
prophecies of Scripture. "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall
praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s
children shall bow down before thee" (Gen. 49:8). Let it be carefully
noted that the clause "thy hand shall be in the neck of thine
enemies" is placed between "thy brethren shall praise
thee" and "thy father’s children shall bow down before
thee"; and that immediately following this, Judah’s victories over
the enemies of God’s people is again pointed out: "Judah is a lion’s
whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up" (v. 9).

The above prophecy
intimated the exalted position which Judah, when compared with the other
tribes, was to occupy: Judah was to be the fore-champion in Israel’s
warfare against their enemies, God having empowered him with conquering
power over the foes of his kingdom. The commencement of this in the life of
David is plainly intimated in 2 Samuel 5:1-3. David’s hand had been
"in the neck of Israel’s enemies": seen in his memorable victory
over Goliath, the Philistine giant; following which we observe the
begun-fulfillment of "thy brethren shall praise thee" in the song
of the women, "Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten
thousands" (1 Sam. 18:6). So also here in 2 Samuel 5 the elders of the
eleven tribes "bowed down before him" when they nominated him
their king, and that, specifically, in view of the fact that he had
triumphantly led out and brought in Israel’s army in times past (v. 2)!

This leads us, in the
second place, to contemplate the coronation of David as a blessed
foreshadowment of the exaltation of his greater Son and Lord. This is so
obvious that there is little need for us to amplify it at much length —though
the interested reader would find it profitable to prayerfully trace out for
himself other details in it. The life and activities of David are plainly
divided into two main parts, though the second part was of much longer
duration than the first: thus it is also in the mediatorial work of Him to
whom he pointed. In the first section of his career, he who was born at
Bethlehem (1 Sam. 16: 1) and "anointed" of God (16:13), wrought
some mighty works (1 Sam. 17:34-36,49) which clearly demonstrated that the
Lord was with him (for the antitype see Luke 2:11; Acts 10:38). The fame of
David was sung by many, which stirred up the jealousy and enmity of the
ruling power (1 Sam. 18:7, 8): for the antitype see Matthew 21:15!

The enmity of Saul
against David was exceeding bitter, so that he thirsted for his blood (1
Sam. 18:29): compare Matthew 12:14. From that time forth David became a
homeless wanderer (1 Sam. 22:1): compare Matthew 8:20. A little company of
devoted souls gathered around him (1 Sam. 22:2), but the nation as a whole
despised and rejected him: compare John 1:11, 12. This was the period of his
humiliation, when the anointed of God suffered privation and
persecution at the hands of his enemies. True, he could (as we have seen
above) have taken matters into his own hands, and grasped the kingdom by
force of arms; but he steadily refused to do so, preferring to meekly and
patiently wait God’s time for him to ascend the throne: compare
Matthew 26:52. In these and many other respects, our hero blessedly
foreshadowed the character and career of his suffering but greater Son and
Lord.

But the time had now
arrived when the season of David’s humiliation was over, and when he
entered into that position of honor and glory which God had long
before ordained for him: "they anointed David king over Israel" (2
Sam. 5:3). In his coronation we have a precious adumbration of the ascension
of Christ, and His exaltation unto "the right hand of the Majesty on
high" (Heb. 1:3), when He "took upon Him the form of a
servant" and "made Himself of no reputation" was "highly
exalted" and given "a Name which is above every name" (Phil.
2:7-10). As we are told in Acts 5:31, "Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
(the spiritual) Israel." The recorded deeds of David after he came to
the throne, which will come before us in the chapters to follow, also
strikingly prefigured the work and triumphs of our exalted and glorified
Redeemer.

And now, in the third
place, let us inquire, How did the fugitive bear this sudden change of
fortune? What were the thoughts of David, what the exercises of his heart,
now that this great dignity, which he never sought, became his? The answer
to our question is supplied by Psalm 18 which (see the superscription) he
"spoke in the day that the Lord delivered him from all his enemies, and
from the hand of Saul," that is, when the Lord brought to an end the
opposition of Saul’s house and followers. In this Psalm the Holy Spirit
has recorded the breathings of David’s spirit and graciously permits us to
learn of the first freshness of thankfulness and praise which filled the
soul of the young king upon his accession to the throne. Here we are shown
the bright spiritual beginnings of the new monarchy, and are given to see
how faithfully the king remembered the vows which as an exile had been
mingled with his tears.

"It is one long
outpouring of rapturous thankfulness and triumphant adoration, which streams
from a full heart in buoyant waves of song. Nowhere else, even in the Psalms—and
if not there, certainly nowhere else—is there such a continuous tide of
unmingled praise, such magnificence of imagery, such passion of love to the
delivering God, such joyous energy of conquering trust. It throbs throughout
with the life-blood of devotion. All the terror, and pains, and dangers of
the weary years—the black fuel for the ruddy glow—melt into warmth too
great for smoke, too equable to blaze. The plaintive notes that had so often
wailed from his heart, sad as if the night wind had been wandering among its
chords, have all led up to this rushing burst of full-toned gladness. The
very blessedness of heaven is anticipated, when sorrows gone by are
understood and seen in their connection with the joy to which they have led,
and are felt to be the theme for deepest thankfulness" (Alexander
Maclaren).

It is blessed to note
that this eighteenth Psalm is entitled, "A Psalm of David, the servant
of the Lord," upon which C. H. Spurgeon remarked, "David,
although at this time a king, calls himself ‘the servant of the Lord,’
but makes no mention of his royalty: hence we gather that he counted it a
higher honour to be the Lord’s servant than to be Judah’s king. Right
wisely did he judge. Being possessed of poetical genius, he served the
Lord by composing this Psalm for the use of the Lord’s house." We
cannot here attempt a full analysis of its contents, but must glance at one
or two of its more prominent features.

The first clause
strikes the keynote: "I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength."
"That personal attachment to God, which is so characteristic of David’s
religion, can no longer be pent up in silence, but gushes forth like some
imprisoned stream, broad and full even from its well-head" (Alexander
Maclaren). Scholars have pointed out that the intensity of David’s
adoration on this occasion moved him to employ a word which is never used
elsewhere to express man’s emotions toward God, a word so strong that its
force is but freely expressed if we render it "from my heart do
I love Thee." The same exalted spiritual fervor is seen again in the
loving accumulation of divine names which follow—no less than eight are
used in verse 21—as if he would heap together in a great pile all the rich
experiences of that God (which all names utterly fail to express)
which he had garnered up in his distresses and deliverances.

In verses 3 and 4 David
recalls pathetically the past experiences when, like an animal caught in the
nets, those who hunted him so relentlessly were ready to close in upon and
seize their prey. "In his distress," he says, "I called upon
the Lord and cried unto my God" (v. 4). Though it was but the call of
one weak solitary voice, unheard on earth, it reached Heaven, and the answer
shook all creation: "He heard my voice out of His temple . . . Then the
earth shook and trembled" (vv. 6, 7, etc.). One saint in his extremity
put in motion the mighty powers of Omnipotence: overwhelming is the contrast
between cause and effect. Wonderful as the greatness, equally marvelous is
the swiftness of the answer: "Then the earth shook."

It is blessed to note
how David ascribes all to the power and grace of the Lord. "For by
Thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall
. . . It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way
perfect . . . Thou Inst also given me the shield of Thy salvation: and Thy
right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great . . . It
is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me . . .
Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing
praises unto Thy name. Great deliverance giveth He to His king; and showeth
mercy to His anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore" (vv. 29,
32, 35, 47, 49, 50).